


golden hour.

by ansutazu



Series: Natsu Shiyouze [1]
Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Tanabata, the rest of them are here i just didn't want to clog the chara tags
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-07
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 07:47:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19719307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ansutazu/pseuds/ansutazu
Summary: In the hours before the Tanabata festival, Nagi finds himself wishing for some things in behalf of his group.





	golden hour.

The story of Tanabata is quite simple, actually — a god wanted to find his daughter (who happened to also be a princess) a husband, and so he married her off to a cow farmer. However, they spent too much time together that they neglected their duties; out of anger, the father separated to opposite sides of the Milky Way, only able to meet up once a year, the seventh of the seventh month.

But the unsung heroes of this tale must be the variation thrown in if the storyteller so inclined — that magpies form the bridge between the two sides of the Milky Way so that the princess and farmer could meet in the middle.

“It’s a good story,” Nagi nods to himself, smoothing down the kimono he bought to celebrate the vaguely familiar Tanabata festival a couple of days away. “But it’s an especially good story if the birds are in it!”

* * *

**July 7 — 8:00 AM.**

“Don’t make me _go_. What are you, my dad?”  
****

“I…well, no.”

Nagi blinks his eyes awake to the sound of his alarm — Sougo trying to convince Tamaki to go grocery shopping with him, because he could always use an extra pair of hands with carrying the bags in, among other things. (Nagi thinks it’s also a way to try and get closer to the younger boy — but hey, doesn’t everyone else think that?)

Nagi cracks his bedroom door open, peeking through with a Cocona plushie in his arm. The president had given them this day off in order to celebrate the holiday, but it isn’t a surprise for Sougo to go off running errands before the festival itself.

The festival! Nagi felt himself waking up with just the very thought of it. The Tanabata festival will finally be something he gets to experience himself in real life after longing to for so long, enriching vaguely familiar traditions seen through the screen through strolls along the food stalls and games and fireworks. The whole group is going together — at least, that’s the plan, but plans to stick together don’t bode well for the seven of them most of the time.

Well, it’s the thought that counts.

But back to the situation at hand. Tamaki pouts, crossing his arms and sitting down at a chair near the front door with a huff. “I don’t _want_ to go. I want to stay here and get some sleep.”

“But you were already _awake_ when I got out here,” Sougo says, a little exasperated, holding up an empty pudding cup in his hand. “And do you call this breakfast?”

“Okay, I got up to eat that, but I was going to go back to sleep after. It’s too _early_.”

“I…oh, Nagi.” Sougo locks gazes with Nagi, giving an apologetic nod and scratching the back of his head. “Sorry, did we wake you? We’ll be heading out soon, so you can go back to bed.”

“We?” Tamaki huffs again. “And _he_ gets to go back to sleep?”

“Hm~? What a quarrel you’re having here.” Nagi chuckles a bit, now poking his head out of the door. He doesn’t mind being awake at all — perhaps he was meant to sort something out at this moment? That’s what he wants to believe, anyway; it might justify butting in like this. “Do you really not want to go, Tamaki?”

Tamaki shakes his head, and Nagi nods. “Alright. Well, then, how about we switch places? I’ll go with Sougo grocery shopping, but next time around, _you_ have to go. Is that a deal?”

“…I guess,” Tamaki sighs, getting up from the chair and slowly making his way back to his bedroom. But before he disappears completely out of sight, he keeps his hand on the door knob to his room and turns around to face Sougo, saying, “I don’t mean to be a pain. I’ll seriously go next time.”

There isn’t room for Sougo to interject before Tamaki closes the door behind him. Nagi gives Sougo a warning pointer finger. “I’ll go, but I have to change first. I’m still in my pajamas, see?” He shows off the Cocona pajama pants he has on with a grin, to which Sougo gives a small laugh, telling Nagi to hurry up with a hand.

Nagi closes the door behind him so that he can change, but before he does so, he goes to his desk, different colors of origami paper scattered about. He’d gotten the wrong kind of paper to write tanzaku on — at least, these aren’t the ones he usually sees — but it should work, right? As long as the sentiment is there — ah, and maybe he can fold something afterward to make it prettier…

He writes his first wish quickly — _I wish for Sougo and Tamaki to get along more in the future._

* * *

**July 7 — 1:00 PM**

Nagi had been roped into a quick practice session by Riku and Iori — “even if we have the day off, we should still do something,” Riku had said when he spotted Nagi on the couch after grocery shopping — “so that we feel good about going to the festival after!” He doesn’t oppose of the idea, because extra practice would be nothing but gains, zero consequences — is that type of metaphor correct? Anyway, it’s small steps to improve himself as an idol, building blocks to reaching a bigger stage presence. He’s nothing short of being grateful for being able to tag along; company’s a reminder as to why he wants to pursue this type of shining stage.

“Seriously, Riku…don’t you think you worked yourself too hard in a short amount of time?” Iori puts a concerned arm around Riku, who was taking a few more deep breaths than usual — if usual was just him standing there, not doing anything. Iori’s concerned is well-intentioned, but sometimes…

“We only practiced for an hour! I’m okay, really.” Riku takes a sip of water, letting out an almost childish _aah_ from his mouth. “Don’t be so worried, Iori. You know, if you keep getting stressed out like this, you’ll lose your hair, you know.”

“Hey, it’s only because I’m concerned.” Iori puts a hand on his head, looking a little frazzled from the statement. “I’m not going to go bald…I’m _not_ going to go bald…”

“You get caught up in the weirdest of things, Iori,” Nagi laughs, using a towel to wipe the sweat from his forehead. This isn’t some weird colloquialism, is it? Perhaps this was literal… _literal_ concern about being bald. “It’s good to push yourself, but it’s also good to be concerned if it’s too much. Energy isn’t infinite, you know?”

“Nagi...” Riku blinks, tilting his head in intrigue. “That sounded _cool_! It was something out of a superhero movie, like a scene when they're talking about how to defeat the bad guy or something.”

“Really?” Nagi puffs out his chest a little, huffing with pride. It might just be a small statement, but he conveyed his words well! That’s always a triumph, something he’ll save for good memories. It makes him more confident, he thinks. “Well, being young has its perks, so you two certainly have energy — enough to practice even if we don’t have to! That's admirable, really, so do your best to hold on to that energy when you've got it, okay?"

He's satisfied when Iori and Riku both nod in response, finding it amusing that they're in sync even with such a simple movement. "Anyway, do you wanna know where I learned that?”

Riku and Iori lean in, and Nagi smiles — a smile more playful than what the situation calls for, but it was an easy hook, line, and sinker. Before he goes on to his big reveal, he makes a mental note to write another wish — _I wish that Iori and Riku continue to have youthful energy!_

“Cocona!” Nagi throws his hands in the air, unable to keep his excitement in anymore, not when his precious favorite character has now entered the conversation. “In the newest episode, Cocona and the bad guys are facing off, but suddenly, the magic in her wand disappears, and she has to go recharge it…”

* * *

**July 7 - 7:00 PM.**

“Where _are_ they?”

“Late.”

Mitsuki sighs, pausing from watching his the hands on his watch to look at the crowd of people beginning to file into the festival. Next to him, Yamato continues to fan himself with, well, a fan, and Nagi looks around with him, trying to see if they could spot the others coming to their designated meeting place. It’s quite a big amount of people, and while that’s expected, it almost seemed like the whole town came…well, did they? Nonetheless, it's one of those nights where the group could very well descend into chaos.

“We should have waited for them,” Yamato sighs, sounding a bit dejected — or maybe he just didn’t want to be standing around any longer. Old bones, Nagi guesses, though he isn’t one to say something like that. “And _we’re_ in the way, disrupting the flow of the crowd.”

“But…this is our meeting spot. If we move, will they find us?”

“Good point. You know what’s a better idea? Going back.”

“Huh?” Mitsuki’s face showcases his confusion, and he puts his hands on his hips. He’s not at all happy. “But what if they get lost if we go back?”

“Then we tell them to go back, too, and we can go back here as a group. It’s not _hard_.” Yamato scratches the back of his head, obviously looking uncomfortable because of the increasing heat. “Standing around won’t do us any good, and it won’t do them any good, either. They’ll keep being lost if we keep standing here.”

“But they’ll be lost if we _aren’t_ here…”

There’s a silence, and an awkward one at that, neither of the older members daring to look at each other, because each made a point, and each didn’t want to specifically shoot down the other person’s idea. Maybe it was because _if_ their own idea didn’t work, then…why did they shoot down the other person’s idea?

“How about this?” Nagi suggested after a bit, looking at his group mates with an enthusiastic zeal look on his face; it’s something that shows the confidence in his idea, the hopefulness that it’s a good compromise to their predicament. “I’ll stay, and you two can go and get them if they’re not close by. If some of them are, I’ll be here, so they won’t be left standing alone. And if I see them from here, I can wave them down! A foolproof plan, right?”

“…Right.” Mitsuki sighs, putting a hand on Nagi’s shoulder by going on his tiptoes (and Nagi bends his knees a little, just to make it a little easier). “It’s a good thing we had a third person around, right, Yamato?”

“Right. Let’s go find them, now.”

And so the older members disappeared into the crowd of festival goers, leaving Nagi to himself. Throughout that small bickering, the objective was clear — that they wanted the others to come to the festival safely, so that no one starts the festival off on a bad note. Perhaps they were actually content with sticking to the plan of sticking together.

Well, in simpler terms — they wanted the whole group to enjoy the festival. It’s a noble cause to fret about.

Nagi remembers that he stuck some origami paper and a pen in the small bag hanging from his wrist, something he'd now become conscious of. He did so quite impulsively, a gut instinct telling him to do it, but he’s rather glad that his subconscious thought about a moment like this (is that how it works?). Perhaps it’s a little _too_ convenient, but he’d rather believe that Cocona was looking out for him, and he smiles at the thought of it. It's a nice idea, after all.

Anyway, he wasn’t sure if he was doing this right — writing wishes in advance, that is, and folding them up into the paper cranes, some of which were also in that small bag (he hopes they haven't been crushed, though it's an easy fix if they were). He wasn’t sure if he was doing this part of the festival right at all, if this was a suitable substitute to tanzaku…

But it felt right. At least, he had a feeling those paper cranes would carry his wishes a little farther. Maybe it's a childish sentiment, but he wants to place his fate in that.

He writes down his wish for the two that had just left — _I wish that Yamato and Mitsuki would be a little easier on themselves._

* * *

**July 7 - 10:00 PM.**

“Tsumugi, do you think this is too greedy?” Nagi holds out a handful of paper cranes in front of his manager, counting the finished amount of five of them with nervousness. “I made a lot of wishes as the festival drew closer, but now that I think about it, the gods may think I’m just selfish.”

“Hm?” Tsumugi picks up one of the paper cranes, and while Nagi's thankful for how delicate she's being with them, he finds himself holding his breath in suspense. He's thankful she doesn't ask about why they were cranes (though more than anything, Tsumugi's just amazed at how neatly they were folded). “Well…I don’t think I’m supposed to ask, but what did you wish for?”

“For Sougo and Tamaki to get along better, for Riku and Iori to continue having energy, for Yamato and Mitsuki to stop being so hard on themselves…” He grins, giving Tsumugi a playful nod. “And for you, president, and Banri to continue to help us! Oh, and for me — I wished to be a little stronger. That’s not bad, right? Or is it too much?”

“Stronger?”

“So that I could support the group and the company better, I wanted to be ‘stronger’…” Nagi trails off, laughing a bit. “It’s weird, isn’t it? What does it mean to be ‘stronger’? I thought I could be like the magpies that built the bridge.”

“…You want to be a bridge?”

“Well, why not? A bridge is just as important to the story as the princess and the farmer themselves! It’s what gives the story a happy ending, you know?”

“Ahaha…you know, it’s odd, but it’s you, Nagi. I think it’s good.” Tsumugi offers the blonde a bright smile, tugging one of the sleeves of Nagi's kimono. “Let’s hang this up on one of the bamboo trees over there. They won’t think those are greedy wishes. I think...I think they’d _want_ to write you a happy ending after reading them!”

**Author's Note:**

> y'all remember the game google had with the birds and u had to put the birds into a bridge. yeah  
> golden hour has nothing to do with the fic tbh i just liked the sound of it
> 
> anyway here's the second part of the series, since it's 7/7 here but 7/8 else where. i hope it's okay. :> look forward to the other ones


End file.
